what he was saying, i want to be fair to the russian people consuming this in that controlled news environment, we're not saying that if you're buying the putin view of this, you know, that that's just -- you're just being dumb. i mean, there's a lot of ways in which he presents this that can sound reasonable if you hear nothing else. >> absolutely. and this has been one of the most amazing things of the putin project since he's come to power. he's created this kind of alternate reality. at first he did it domestically. when you're in russia, it's incredibly. the talk of democracy, the posters on the streets, the people out at also ryes, the lines at election booths. these are things that the kremlin orchestrates very, very carefully. this is the first time he's moved beyond his borders to do it there. so this is a very controlled campaign. it's a theatre. >> james welcome back to the show. thanks for joining us again. >>> coming up, vladimir putin's political machine. and later, breaking news from texas. wendy davis has become the first woman since anne richards to win a primary for governor